By Jeff Reinhart

Breaking down the District 3 Class 3A girls’ basketball bracket …

FOUR FOR THE SHOW

Berks Catholic (18-5) is the No. 1 seed, and the Saints are coming off a 4-point loss against Governor Mifflin in the Berks County title game.

Northern Lebanon (23-2) is the No. 2 seed, and the Vikings are coming off a loss against Lancaster Catholic in the L-L League title game; both of Northern Lebanon’s losses this season are vs. the Crusaders.

Bishop McDevitt (17-5) is the No. 3 seed, and the battle-tested Crusaders shared the Mid-Penn Keystone championship with Lower Dauphin, the 7-seed in Class 4A.

And Susquehannock (21-3) is the No. 4; the Indians romped to the York/Adams Division II title and advanced to the YAIAA semifinals.

Greencastle-Antrim, the No. 5 seed, is the defending champ.

MUST-SEE FIRST-ROUND GAMES

Fleetwood at Greencastle-Antrim: We’re anxious to see how G-A responds after falling to Cumberland Valley in the Mid-Penn semifinals. Yes, Fleetwood has seven losses, and the Tigers are 2-4 in their last six games, but the Blue Devils are the defending champs, and these win-or-go-home games are never easy.

Milton Hershey at Northern Lebanon: Milton Hershey flew a tad under the radar in the Mid-Penn Capital race; Spartans have had a really solid season and knocked off Susquehanna Twp. to earn a trip to Fredericksburg. Northern Lebanon will need a quick snap-back after falling to Lancaster Catholic in the L-L finale. And the Vikings must curtail Milton Hershey guards Atiya McDonald (10.0, 27 3’s) and Aisha Freeman (13.3, 40 3’s), who can both score in transition, plus post Taya Wadsworth (9.5), who is a tricky matchup in the lane. Not a cakewalk for the 2-seed here.

West Perry at Lancaster Catholic: This is a rematch of a district semifinal in the Giant Center in 2014, when the Mustangs picked off the Crusaders 49-39 on the way to winning gold. Keep an eye on the paint in this one, where West Perry’s Gracie Stauffer (12.8) and Lancaster Catholic’s Caroline Scarff (11.3) should swap plenty of elbows.

Susquenita at York Suburban: Nita is fresh off a victory over Halifax in the Tri-Valley title game, as coach Shannon Dyer and his Blackhawks have won 10 games in a row after a perfect ride through the TVL. York Suburban earned a second-place finish in York/Adams Division II behind Susquehannock, and the Trojans fell to Delone Catholic in the first round of the YAIAA playoffs. Suburban has lost two games in a row and is 3-3 in its last six — and the Trojans must find a way to contain Nita’s Katie Humphrey (12.2, 47 3’s) and Amber Siegfried (14.5, 13 3’s).

FIVE PLAYERS TO WATCH

Jenay Faulkner, Greencastle-Antrim — Blue Devils’ junior sniper and Holy Cross commit has been crazy-good from the arc with a midstate-best 77 3’s plus a 20.3 scoring average, teaming with point guard Hannah Crist (17.4, 56 3’s) to form one of the best 1-2 punches in the district.

Kiki Jefferson, Lancaster Catholic — Amazing freshman season includes 20.7 points, 20 3’s, a Section 4 title and L-L League gold. We can’t wait to see what she does next in the district playoffs.

Lauren Lister, Fleetwood — Cat-quick playmaker makes the Tigers go in transition. Lister averages a team-best 15.3 points, and she’s tough in space with an explosive first step. G-A must keep her under wraps.

Devon Merritt, Berks Catholic — James Madison recruit is a rock in the paint; she can score at the rim, board and block shots with the best of them. Merritt is averaging 16.8 points, but she does so much more than score for the top-seeded Saints.

Zoe Zerman, Northern Lebanon — Vikings’ floor general helped Northern Lebanon win its first L-L Section 3 title since 1986 and then into the league finals for the first time ever. Averages 14.4 points with 21 3’s, and she’s got a quick trigger finger. Zerman is also closing in on 1,000 points; she hits districts with 947.

THE DARK HORSE PICK

How about Boiling Springs, the No. 6 seed. Coach Kyle Watkins and his Bubblers get No. 11 Conrad Weiser in the first round. Win there, and a quarterfinal date against Mid-Penn neighbor Bishop McDevitt — should the seeds hold true — could be in the cards. Boiling Springs either had the solo lead or was tied for the lead in the Mid-Penn Colonial chase until the very last night of division play, when the Bubblers dropped a sucker-punch 50-48 decision at Greencastle-Antrim, which won its third Colonial crown in a row. Boiling Springs has some snipers — Bubblers shot the lights out in that big G-A game — and can get on the boards.

TOUGHEST ROAD TO FINALE

Of the top four seeds, it has to be No. 2 Northern Lebanon, which has a tricky first-rounder against Milton Hershey and — if we go chalk — a potential quarterfinal-round game vs. Lancaster Catholic, the only team that has beaten the Vikings this season. NL-LC III would be fun for L-L fans, no doubt.

AND THE WINNER IS

Our final four looks this way: Berks Catholic, Greencastle-Antrim, Lancaster Catholic and Bishop McDevitt. That’s a gut-hunch, by the way. That’s in a perfect world, with kids making shots and teams performing the way we know they can.

And we really like Lancaster Catholic — yeah, the No. 7 seed — to cut down the nets in the Giant Center. We probably haven’t seen too many 7-seeds come in at 24-1 before. But coach Charlie Detz and his Crusaders have just one loss, and they have plenty of momentum after winning their 12th L-L title. And they have Jefferson, who has been nothing short of a jaw-dropping showstopper up to this point.